Apparatus for the lye treatment and washing of clothes



Oct. 10, 1933- c. E. P. JULIEN APPARATUS FOR THE LYE TREATMENT AND WASHING OF CLOTHES Filed Jan. 13, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Irin /12%)) 77167151? fuzzlz 1933- c. E. P. JULIEN APPARATUS FOR THE LYE TREATMENT AND WASHING OF CLOTHES Filed Jan. 13, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet, 2

Patented Oct. 10, 1933 UNI D TE? EPATENT o -"rice APPARATUS FOR THE LYE' TREATMENT AND WASHING OF CLOTHES Cyprien Edouard Paul Julien, Paris, France Application January 13, 1927, Serial No. 160,984, and in France January 13, 1926 w 3 Claims.

it the walls ofthe cylinder or against bosses by which the lye bath will be enabled to penetrate into the interior of the clothes. In other devices, the lye is also made to enter the clothes for washing purposes but herein the solution is drawn or forced through a mass of clothes of greater-or less thickness whichis contained in a receptacle. However, with all such apparatus the solution will not readily penetrate into the clothes by rea son of the compact mass which it is obliged to traverse, and these devices, in order to secure an efiective action, must therefore exercise a relatively violent mechanical action upon the clothes by which they will be subject to a certain damage. My said invention obviates all such defects, and

for this purpose the clothes which are to be washedgor lye-treated are subjected to immersionsin the bath and are allowed to stream or drip, in a successive manner, this being optionally accompanied by aslight friction of the articles upon one another, the articles being preferably stretched or spread out in thin layers during all such operations, and they willbe thus subjected without shocks or pressure to the chemical action of the lye bath and then to the mechanical action or friction produced by the streaming or flowing of the liquid over or from the articles. Since the clothes are thus brought into contact with the liquids upon the maximum extent of surface, and without compression, the chemical 40 actions which. constitute the saponification will take place in the most approved conditions. The streaming of the liquid will facilitate the physical action ofthe. slight friction to the maximumdegree, so as to remove all coagulated or insoluble substances from the textile fabric. y .In the embodiment illustrated a rotatable device such as a horizontal drum of open work'construction which is provided with cross bars or like members, upon which are disposed the articles to be washed, so that they will be drawn forward with the said barsduring-the rotation of the drum and will thus be immersed successively in the lye bath which is contained in a suitable receptacle. The arrangement may be such'that When the articles are once placed in-position in the apparatus they may be subjected thereinand without any further handling-4o all the successive operation which may be required for the lye treatment and the washing, such as prelimi nary washing, lye treatment, washing, chlorine water treatment, rinsing, centrifugal or like drying, and optionally a complete drying.

For such drying, I provide for the production of a current of air for drying purposes by the rotation of the washing apparatusitself, said device comprising a rotary pump which is mounted directly or indirectly upon the shaft of the rotatable drum, in combination with a. conduit for heating the air which is optionally removable and ends in the interior of the tank, so as to assure within the said tank a circulation of air heated to the proper temperature for furthering oreffecting the drying of the clothes contained inthe drum.

In the appended diagrammatic drawings which show by way of example an embodimentof the said invention:

Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively a side and an end view ofa drum forming part of the lye treating apparatus, 8

Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively a side and an end view of the entirelye treatingjapparatus,

' Fig. 5 is a vertical axial section of the, machine with the cover removed showing a slightly difier ent form, 1

Fig. 6 is an end view of the formshownin Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic'view showing the use-of a reticulated cover around the clothes :on the rods, the structure being modified to the extent of illustrating several additional rods.-.

The elementwhich serves to contain the pieces of clothing to be washed consists of a drum in the form of a squirrel cage-like structure com-v prising two heads 1'2 which are connected to gether by the transverse' bars or like members 3, 4, 5,6, (Fig. .2) in the'present example, the said bars being disposed in pairs at the respective ends of a given diameter of the head, but they may obviously be otherwise arranged and any desired number used provided that they are spaced at distances sufiiciently great to enable manual reaching between the bars for the looping of clothes thereupon so that they hang down inside. The drum thus formed is provided with 5 stub shafts 7, 8 disposed in bearings which are formed at the ends of the supports9, 10 (Figs. 3 and 4), which supports also serve to maintain the tank 11 which may have a semi-cylindrical shape and contains the lye solution, said tank is pro- H0 vided with a cover which is preferably hinged.

Upon one of the stub shafts of the drum (for instance 8) is mounted an actuating element which in the present example consists of a hand crank 13. The provision of the two stub shafts for the support of the drum, instead of a single shaft extending axially through the drum, establishes;

an internally untrammeled drum in which the clothes are freely raised and dipped during drum necessary, several pieces of clothing can be placed in the superposed position upon the bar.

The heater which may be of any character-de sired is so regulated as to produce or to maintainthe temperature which may be successively required for the liquid, and the saiddrum is suitably rotated for the requisite length, of time, according to the nature of the operation and the quality or the condition of the clothes. Each time that a bar is made to descend through the lye bath, the clothes which it carries will spread out in the liquid and will be immersed in the bath and subjected to the slight friction of one part of the textile fabric upon other parts by which the fibres willbe brought against one another, and the'fabric will'be impregnated with the liquid in all its parts; this will continue until the bar rises to the diametrically opposite point. Since the clothes are drawn through the bath at a suitable speed, they willdraw up a certain quantity of liquid and this will fall by gravity and will stream upon or through the fabric, so that the yarn composing it will be thus washed; 7 After the clothes'have been thus subjected to the lye treatment, the lye bath can be replaced by other baths which may be successively placed in the tank. After the clothesare rinsed and all the additional operations completed, the tank being emptied and the clothes being still in place,

air which as contained in or is blown through the apparatus V To avoid all contact between the clothes and the internal walls of said tank, I interpose between the tank and the drum, and preferably main-v tain uponthe latter, a peripheral element which may consist of a large mesh or recticulated cover 20 (Fig. 7). This cover is applied to the drum in an encompassing position to bear down on the loopedportions of the clothes and gripthem so as to hold them. The ends of the cover are fastenedtogether by arrv suitable means 20 (Fig. '7) as for, example, a. hook. It will be understood thatone of thepurposes of the reticulated cover isto keep the clothes astride of the bars, the spacing, of these bars having been touched upon previously.

In the, form shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the rotatable drum of the washing machine consisting of the end heads 1-2 whichare connected together by the cross bars (or like. members) 3 supported by means of the stub shafts 7-8 whereof at least onev of which, '7, is hollow, upon thesupports 9-10 In this form tank 11 is mounted in the body of the heater 14 whichmay besupplied with any suitable fuel and is adapted to heat'the bottom of the tank 11 either directly or with the interposition of a register 15 (Fig. 6) for regulating or cutting off the heat.

Within the said heater is disposed a spiral or Worm tube 16 which is connected at one end with the delivery end of a pump 17 which is preferably actuated by the hand crank 13 of the drum. The said pump (or blower) may be of the centrifugal type, and the rotor may be mounted directly upon the corresponding journal 8, but it is preferably connected with the said journal 8 by suitable speed-increasing transmission means. The

, other. end of the said worm tube 16 is connected with the hollow journal 7 of the drum 2.

The operation of the form shown in Figs 5 and 6 is as follows:

The' clothes are suspended and spread out within the squirrel cage-like structure formed by the open work drum 1-3 and when thus disposed they are subjected to the washing operations as disclosed in Figs. 1 to 4. The clothes are then given a certain centrifugal treatment after the tank has been emptied. The heater being maintained in the active condition and the drum set in rotation, the air delivered by the pump 17 through the worm 16 will reach the said tank at a high temperature; the cover of the said tank (not shown) is placed upon the tank. The air in the tank is thus gradually heated, and it will heat the moisture containedin the clothes and convert it into vapour, thus sterilizing the clothes when in a clean condition. The drum is rotated slowly, or at stated intervals, so that each bar 3 together with the clothes will proceed, together with the clothes which it draws along with it, to a point within a short distance from the bottom of the tank which is heated to the maximum temperature; but the clothes are not allowed to make contact with thebottom whereby they would be burned, due to the reticulated cover 20 which normally surrounds the said drum. To prevent an excessive temperature in the dry tank, I preferably interpose the register 15 so as to prevent direct contact between the flames of the burner and the bottom of the tank 11; said register may consist ofperforated sheet metal pieces, whose perforations can be optionally brought into coincidence.

In this manner the clothes are dried by the simultaneous action of the'hot air in the tank which becomes saturated with the moisture withdrawn from the clothes, and of the current of hot and dry air supplied by the blower to the tank, after passing through the worm tube 16. This air becomes charged with the humidity of the tank and draws it out of thelatter through suitable apertures in the tank or its cover.

The tubular arrangement 16 of the blowing device may assume all shapes and. sizes and may optionally form part ofthe heater or the tank. It may be constructed, in particular, by disposing a hollow jacket around the burner, either totally orpartially, said jacket being connected at one'end with the blower or pump 17 and at the other end with the hollow journal 7. The heater or furnace 14 and the tank 11 may be constructed separately or in combination and may have any shape orsize. The drying air may be optionally heated by any suitable heater or by any sourceof heat.-

This invention isapplicable to. all. forms of washing drums, stationary or portable, which are adapted for iuse'withall types of tanks or heating devices. The frame upon which the device consisting 'of'the tank and the drum is disposed may be of any suitable form, and I am thus enabled to construct washing apparatus of all sizes, whether stationary or mounted upon rollers.

What I claim is:

1. In a washing machine, means providing an internally untrammeled drum in which the clothes are freely raised and dipped with respect to the liquid upon rotation of the drum, said means comprising bars over which the clothes are looped to hang down inside, spaced heads to which the ends of the bars are connected to complete the drum, a stub shaft on each head, and means to bear down on the clothes at the bars to keep the clothes from slipping.

2. In a washing machine, means providing an internally untrammeled drum in which the clothes are freely raised and dipped with respect to the liquid upon rotation of the drum, said means comprising bars over which the clothes are looped to hang down inside, spaced heads to which the ends of the bars are connected to complete the drum, a stub shaft on each head, and means tightly encompassing the drum to grip the clothes against the bars.

3. In a washing machine, means providing an internally untrammeled drum in which the clothes are freely raised and dipped with respect to the liquid upon rotation of the drum, said means comprising bars over which the clothes are looped to hang down'inside, spaced heads to which the ends of the bars are connected to complete the drum, a stub shaft on each head, reticulated means encompassing the drum to enclose those portions of'the clothes looped over the bars, and means to lock the ends of the reticulated means together thus causing said means to tightly grip said looped portions.

CYPRIEN EDOUARD PAUL JULIEN. 

